Uchiha Lore
History When Raishimaru defeated his brother, he did so to cleanse the world of the evil Sakai had supplied it with. Not only did he fail to prevent the spread of Ninjutsu, but he also allowed his brother’s curse of hatred to continue. Unknown to both brothers, Sakai had a son. Born into the world that lacked hope or happiness, his eyes were fueled with the fire that had once consumed and powered Sakai. The son, Noroi, had never met his father but had to pay for the legacy of the damage and hurt he had caused the world. Hatred ran deep within the mother too, unable to cherish a rejected child. The fault was all Sakai’s, as he invaded the Iron Country with the merciless, fearful and deadly Samurai, desecrating the young maiden after. She managed to escape, forcing her way across the sea to Lightning Country, while the horrors of Sakai’s wrath burned deep into her memory. A violent storm settled in as lightning cracked maddeningly - childbirth commenced; the delivery of Noroi. Convincing voices in her mind almost lead to the abandonment of the newborn, letting nature take its course. Alas, motherly instincts had suddenly kicked in, as she was compelled to defend the child, driving herself into sickness to shelter Noroi from the elements. The result of the harsh nature caused an infection to leave her gravely wounded, sending her body into a fever that caused disability in the long run. Unable to work, Noroi and his mother lived in a momentary harmony. Collectively, they scavenged for food and the woman who was once kind and gentle revolted into a maddened version of herself. Regularly unleashing her anger at the boy, greed overtook the unstable woman, resulting in serious gluttony, barely containing herself without a single thought of her boy. Unable to recognize the feeling of love or being cared for, Noroi was soon overtaken by sorrow due to the abuse. At the age of thirteen, he grew taller and stronger than his mother, and when one day a hand was raised against him, he retaliated. Only meaning to restrain her, he was overpowered by emotions and sheer anger and control was nowhere to be seen. As fear washed over the once kind face, the mother’s concluding words echoed with the name of Sakai. And with a deep crack, another soul left this earth. Noroi ran, lost and unable to comprehend what exactly happened, conflicted by feelings of anger, guilt, relief and resentment. The road directed him south, where the lack of energy and mental exhaustion brought him crashing down to Hive Country. Awoken by a sudden thump, his destiny was presently in the hands of a Samurai convoy. Snickering and laughter went around, as the guards of the convoy had a plan to kill the helpless boy, but as they drew their daggers and confronted the terrified boy, they hesitated. Uncertain in what they had recognized in him, they whimpered, as their weapons fell to the ground. Noroi was cuffed and locked in the back of the cart, uncertain what caused their change of mind, but the uncertainty was cast away. Relieved, the boy decided to not speculate about it. Months went by travelling across unknown lands and through all types of weather with the Samurai, as the convoy was his only key to survival. When the guards came to nourish him, their gaze was nowhere to be seen, evading the vengeful eyes. Finally, unshackled and brought out from his haven, the boy was tossed before a mountain of a man. Before Noroi stood a man garbed in the finest armour the boy had ever seen, wielding two excellent weapons at his hips; a massive axe and hammer, quite different from the long katana which were common within the Samurai’s arsenal. The man introduced himself as Sajin the Great, commander of the Samurai Army. Looking around, Noroi had noticed the army was but a few dozen men, yet not a single word was ushered from within. Momentarily, Sajin crouched before him, asking about the boy’s origin. Noroi was frightened to answer and so he was thrown back into his cage. Another week passed before Noroi learnt of his father from Sajin, who told stories of Sakai as if they represented tremendous accomplishments, but the boy listened in horror. His father was the notorious tyrant that had spread pain and evil across the world. Sajin seemed particularly pleased to have found Noroi and began to regard him well, swathing him in fine clothes and offering him a taste of sword fighting. Troubled, the boy remained still a naive child and accepted the gifts, for it was the dearest thing to love he had felt. Letting his guard down, he became vulnerable to Sajin’s true plan. Sajin had a daughter, which he encouraged Noroi to spend time with. Jointly, they learnt of the ways of Bushido. Mirai acquired more years of experience with a sword under her belt, making her better ultimately than Noroi. This provided some robust competition between the two, encouraging the boy to be stronger. It was Mirai who noticed something awakened within Noroi’s eyes; something she swiftly accomplished to never neglect. During one fight together, Noroi’s loathing put her under a strong Genjutsu just as he was about to lose, her blade digging deep into the ground in a haze of illusion, as she was incapable to act. The boy released his opponent from the illusion and together they wept. Each of them left terror-stricken by what had happened. When Mirai came of age, Sajin told Noroi that he wanted the pair to be married, to secure the young man within his family. Noroi agreed, he had gained a place to belong within the Samurai and had fallen into a deep love for Mirai. Together they fathered two children, which was sufficient for Sajin to explore the subsequent part of his plan. At a grand celebration, the General summoned his son-in-law, daughter and two grandchildren to his quarters. He explained to Noroi that he had observed the two children fighting and the eldest had lost control, placing his sibling under a mild Genjutsu, similar to the one Noroi had cast upon Mirai all those years ago. The Samurai Commander explained that the power came from the eyes that had been passed from Sakai to Noroi, and then to his children. He wanted to be sure of how to harness it. Noroi was confused and objected, as his children were too young to have such power, but Sajin persisted. He called in a group of Samurai, who instantly formed a barricade between Noroi and his wife and children. Without a word, Sajin slit his own daughter's throat, occupying the tent with screams and paralysing Noroi by what he had witnessed. Mirai fell to the ground lifeless, but Sajin was indifferent. He maintained his eyes on the youngest child and slowly smiled as her eyes turned red. His plan came to fruition, ordering the Samurai closest to Noroi to wound the young man through the abdomen. Unable to flinch, Noroi’s was fixated on his wife, slowly turning to look at his two hysterical children. Their eyes were flaming red, as they watched both of their parents’ loving-gaze perish from their faces. Niko and Kata remained with their grandfather, and with the trauma happened at such a young age, it was effortless for Sajin to manipulate their memory. Because of this, they did not blame him but could neither rid the underlying fear for the man. When Sajin passed away, he left a scroll for the pair of children. The scroll explained the truth of what had happened that night and his hopes that his grandchildren would continue Sakai’s destiny as the stoutest warriors in the world. Sajin went on to explain how to unlock the power they had within their blood and the possibilities that came with it. He justified every action of hate and pain he committed against them, citing it made them stronger, emphasising the need to carry on this power; claiming it was a great gift. The two siblings were young adults and despite the disbelief of the reality that came back to them, they were steered to discover the limits of their power. Sajin had been sure to show the pair no love, but he forced the two to be as close as they could be to each other. It was this bond that allowed them to discover the strength to persevere. Collectively, they travelled the world working as sellswords for money. Niko was the first to marry and had three children, while Kata gave birth to two children later on. They entered a pact that when their youngest children had achieved thirteen years of age, they would do as Sajin had done and execute their partners in front of the children, so they too could unlock their power. This marked the creation of the unbroken curse of the Uchiha, which would continue to the present day. For generations, this continued with more intense and horrific ways of unlocking the power of Uchiha children. Some clan members caused their offspring to annihilate each other, for the strongest to survive. Quickly, fame came to the family’s name, promoting an image for itself as feared as Sakai’s. They frequently moved from place to place, seeking a new challenge or new type of Ninjutsu they hadn’t come across before, so they could further push their Dojutsu. Most notoriously they settled in Lightning Country, in the city of Raimei, whose main trade consisted of gunpowder. This lucrative material had made a few families a huge amount of wealth, and they eventually came to rule the city. When the Uchiha arrived, they admired the power these families had over their people. Most of Raimei’s citizens lived in deep poverty, whilst the nobility enjoyed the luxurious life. Yet, the poor had worked hard to prop up these families. The Uchiha desired this for themselves and so they disguised themselves. Posing as Seikatsu monks, they wanted to make an offering to the noble families. When they stood before the rulers of Raimei, they cast a great Genjutsu which the rulers could not defend against. The noble families were imprisoned and one by one they were either executed or exiled. The Uchiha declared themselves rulers of Raimei. Although they were capable Fire Release users, they were cautious not to use this in the city overcrowded with extremely volatile gunpowder and other materials. Alternatively, they paid for a group of Ronin to secure the city and keep the citizens passive. The Uchiha signed an arms deal with the Kaguya, which agreed to an exchange of gunpowder for bone weaponry. The clan subsequently presented these to the Ronin as they were sturdier than Samurai steel in most cases. The gunpowder trade propelled the Uchiha into tremendous wealth, which made them a clan left unchallenged by their enemies. The Uchiha continued to be politically strong with their mastery of Genjutsu, as people paid to learn from them, though none could achieve the level that the Uchiha had obtained. Their power was so immense, they would accept penniless families promoting their children into arranged marriages with the Uchiha so the Dojutsu was passed on. When the clan found itself with a lack of suitable partners, they would simply use Genjutsu to persuade destitute families to hand over their adolescent daughters and sons. Something that was heavily enforced among the Uchiha was the custom to treat children with no care or affection, so the Dojutsu would present itself early and in its strongest form. The cycle of hate was spinning quickly, and it seemed unbreakable. However, it approached an abrupt end with the birth of Totsu. The daughter of the clan leader, Uta, was not like the other Uchiha. Despite the harsh treatment she received from her family, she remained a kind-spirited girl. Mischievous and always with a smile on her face, she was known for gnawing on her lip to suppress the look that so angered her father. Uta believed Totsu to be weak, and would never present the Dojutsu, therefore casting her away from Raimei. Alone into the world, she travelled to cross the border into Hive Country and settled with a trivial group of Kodama monks. It is there she met the love of her life, a man named Ko. He was from an extended line of surviving nobles that had been exiled from Raimei after Uchiha had seized their lands. When Totsu digested this, she preserved her heritage a secret. She didn't believe she possessed the Uchiha power either way, as there was no hate within her, but she feared Ko would not love her back if he identified her origins. They fell into a deep love and devoted many years together, and when Ko finally asked Totsu to wed him, she was overpowered with emotion. Holding each other close in an embrace, she cried joyfully. The emotion within her felt as if it was about to burst. She looked Ko in the eye and was about to accept when his face was suddenly suffused with horror. Ko tried to push Totsu away at the sight of her yes, as a thundering shout came from him. Scrambling to get away at the reveal of her heritage, Totsu panicked. The ideal moment was slipping away from her and unknowingly she put Ko under a Genjutsu to soothe him. When she realised what she had undertaken, she released him and shook in fear. Not for the new power she had, but for the way that Ko looked at her - as if she was a monster. Ko, now completely terrified, began to plead for his life. But Totsu ran away, heartbroken and mortified. Believing she would be unable to return to the monks, Totsu hid away in the Hive marshlands. Beginning to make sense of what happened, how did the Dojutsu strive within love, not hatred, she questioned herself. She used a Genjutsu when she was enduring fear and sudden pain. As she searched for answers, she desperately attempted controlling her Dojutsu, which up until now the Uchiha had not managed to do, as it would only present itself during a period of intense emotion. To get around this, Totsu experimented with small bursts of emotions, fuelled with her memories, and slowly became able to switch her crimson-red eyes on and off at will. Totsu decided to return to the Uchiha, confident that she could convince them to end the clan’s curse and follow her path to unlocking their genuine power. Confronting her father with the mastery of the clan’s greatest asset, she gave it the Sharingan; the Mirror Wheel Eye. Uta was shocked and humbled by his daughter, but defiant in the belief that her way would merely bring weakness to the Uchiha in the foreseeable future. He explained to Totsu that the only way for her to gain leadership of the family would be to execute him and prove her power, but she refused. Adamant that their true power lies behind ending the curse and it was only with love that she had managed to learn to control the Sharingan, she rallied the clan behind her, who were unable to deny Totsu’s strength. She told them they must leave Raimei and give the power to the people, making the city one of the first republics in the world. The recuperated Uchiha departed except for Uta, who could not come to terms with how wrong he had been, not only about the power of the clan but the potential of his daughter too. He disappeared, leaving Totsu to govern their family. The Uchiha followed her aboard a ship, as they set sail for Forest Country. There, she would seek help for her clan from the people she had heard of from the Kodama Monks, the Senju of the Forest. When the Uchiha arrived in Forest Country, Totsu knew there was a caution to be had. She was aware of the reputation her clan held and implemented extensive measures to assure the Senju that she and her people would cause them no harm. She did not complain when the Senju took two months to finally allow them onto the coasts of their forest, using Genjutsu when necessary to subdue some of the more sceptical and impatient of the Uchiha that were with her. Totsu had chosen the Senju for being chosen by Raishimaru to preserve his work as a Warden. She felt the connection between the two clans through the two brothers would be the best place for the Uchiha to bring about a new chapter in their history and break the cycle of hatred. The Senju gave the Uchiha a home within their southern lands, which contained a large shrine surrounded mostly by sea. The area was beautiful, and the Moon seemed the biggest and brightest, allowing those in meditation to feel even closer to the Mother. Totsu informed her people that they were there to atone not only for their sins but for the sins of the Uchiha that came before them, and the Kodama faith was one built on love for the world around them. It was staggering how open the Uchiha were to accept their alternative life, but perhaps it was because some deemed it was their ticket to power. Regardless of their reasons, they lived in harmony with the Senju, becoming deeply spiritual. Over many decades, the Uchiha remained in Forest Country, with only a few leaving to take on a pilgrimage with some Senju to ancient lands that had in the past suffered at the hands of the Uchiha, seeking forgiveness. The critical moment in the Uchiha’s road to change came when a group of Arumaze landed on the shore to Forest Country. Distressed and screaming for help, the Uchiha did not have to ask where they had come from. They could observe it behind them on the horizon, as the sky was bright purple and dotted with inky clouds of smoke. The Uchiha not only took the Arumaze into their homes, attending to their wounds and supporting them after the tremendous tragedy in the Hotsprings Country but even sent some of their own back towards the healers’ lands in search of survivors. Regrettably, they had come back empty-handed. The Uchiha insisted the Arumaze remained with them, offering half of their lands so the Arumaze could begin to establish new roots and come back from the disaster that had ruined them. However, the Arumaze humbly refused, and when enough of them regained health, they thanked their saviours and set out in search of something that the Uchiha did not quite understand. As a result, the Senju elders gathered their Uchiha counterpart and decreed that the lands the Uchiha had called home for so long were now their own, announcing this as an acknowledgement for the contemporary ways of the clan that stood well with the Kodama faith. The Uchiha were blown away and gratefully accepted, marking a glorious moment in their history, where they believed they had ultimately broken the curse of hatred that Sakai had created. When the handover became official, the Uchiha renamed their land to Moon Country, in honour of the teachings that the Senju had passed onto them and as an ever-present reminder that the Mother was watching over the clan and directing them. The two clans remained close allies, with many Senju marrying into the Uchiha clan, despite their children inevitably carrying the Uchiha blood. The redeemed clan began growing in size, as it became encouraged to unlock the Sharingan through the most heightened emotion of them all; love. Half a century later, the Uchiha clan was thriving on good trade relationships across the Eastern Sea and remained staunch in their Kodama beliefs. Despite their great power, they were as passive as the Senju. Thus, when the Kaguya Alliance invaded Forest Country, the clan were ripped in two by indecision. The elders of the Uchiha clan did not believe that entering the war was the satisfactory thing to carry out, as the clan had worked extremely long to alter its image and could not be seen participating in the war now. Many Uchiha were horrified by the decision, as their closest ally was the one suffering from that decision. There were protests, talks were held to adjust the mind of elders, with some Uchiha even sneaking across the border to try and find the Senju, but most would return, unable to locate the hiding clan. Slowly, and reluctantly, the majority of the clan agreed to remain in Moon Country, away from the war. Across the border, Forest Country was burning, and the smoke soon clouded over Uchiha lands, so thick it obscured the moon that usually shone brightly on the clan. Many Uchiha identified this as an ill omen, a message from the Mother that she had abandoned them as they abandoned their neighbours, but the elders held strong in their belief that they were doing the right thing. For years, the Uchiha rejected the rare messages they would receive from the Senju, and it was nearly a decade into the war before they modified their position on how to act. The Senju had yielded much ground after hiding for so many years by the hands of the Kaguya Alliance. They had waited so long to begin fighting back that it was unlikely they would recover much of the country from their formidable opponents. As they got pushed further East, the closer the Kaguya Alliance would get to Moon Country. The Uchiha had periodically sent scouts into Forest Country to map out the position of the battlefront, and it was only when it became obvious that the Kaguya Alliance had intended to seize all of Forest Country that the Uchiha began to squirm. They knew the ambition of a clan as united as the Kaguya and the change of leadership within the clan, paranoid that once the invaders would conquer Forest Country, their desire to surmount even the greatest clan would not be sated for long, and the taste for war would return; Moon Country would be their easiest target and there was nowhere for the Uchiha to flee to. The clan mobilised and entered Forest Country on the eighth year of the war, guided by the first rays of moonlight they had seen in years. They forced their way in the night to the last notable location of the Kaguya to flank them. Whilst most of the alliance slept, the Uchiha set the camp ablaze. Skilled in the use of Katon, the Uchiha set the whole camp on fire within the hour. With the element of surprise as their key advantage, they disappeared back into the forest to find the Senju. The emergence of the Uchiha in the war set the Kaguya Alliance back greatly. Many of the Shirogane were forced to retreat out of the area, as their puppets were destroyed in the surprise blaze, and a hefty portion of the Kaguya perilled as they slept. This allowed the Senju to attack the following morning alongside the Uchiha, recovering a substantial area of their lands over the next few weeks. The Uchiha exploited their relationships with other countries to rally support for their Alliance, urging the Uzumaki to enter the fight after some years to intercept Yuki ships that were sending supplies to the Kaguya, and ultimately providing the weapon that would terminate the war - the Jinchuriki. The alliances grew on both sides and with the Arumaze working to heal all wounded soldiers in Balance Country, it seemed that the war would last forever. The Uchiha had already dwindled most of their income into propping up the Alliance, but it was not enough, and so a deal had to be made with a prominent merchant family that the Uchiha had done business with. The family would provide a virtually endless income and, in return, when the war was won, they would take control of Forest Country, becoming the Daimyo of the land. The Senju refused for a year, but when their soldiers began to die of starvation they hastily agreed. Five decades into the war and the Kaguya Alliance had been pushed nearly completely back across the border. They occupied just a modest portion of western Forest Country, and it was then the Senju Alliance unleashed Mumei, the Jinchuriki that the Uzumaki had provided and the Uchiha had trained secretly in Moon Country. Mumei forced the war to a swift end, and within the year, the Kaguya and their full Alliance had retreated to their ancestral lands. The Senju Alliance was victorious, and it had been primarily thanks to the Uchiha. As the forest-dwellers began to restore their country, their partners set about plans to instil the merchant family as the new leadership. The new Daimyo reluctantly agreed to exclude the portion of land that the Nara had resided in during the war from the deal, as the latter, along the Akimichi, had refused access to Uchiha to their land. Once the Daimyo took control of the main portion of Forest Country, he decided to make a permanent mark of his leadership by renaming it Fire Country, a homage to the element that had destroyed the forest that had once stood across the expanse and paved the way to his leadership. When the Daimyo ordered the construction of a Shinobi village to rival that of the Wind Daimyo’s, he instructed the Uchiha to rally the Senju Alliance to help run it. With the Uzumaki providing the funds for both the Senju and the Uchiha to buy a stake in Konoha, as both clans still struggled as a result of the war, the village was built. For many years the Uchiha, Senju, and Uzumaki served as the village council until a time where the three clans no longer represented a prominent presence in Konoha. It was only about 20 years ago that the Uchiha District was founded in the Leaf. It is believed the Fire Daimyo of the time had run into financial troubles and sold a portion of his stake in Konoha to the Uchiha, which gave the clan a residential area within Konoha. The elders of the clan have always resided in Moon Country, but prominent Uchiha tend to live in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, enjoying the convenient and modern lifestyle that it provides.Category:Lore